Jackie Collins

Jacqueline Jill Collins OBE (4 October 1937 – 19 September 2015), known as Jackie Collins, was a British-American  novelist. She wrote 32 novels, all of which appeared on The New York Times bestsellers list. In total, her books have sold over 500 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages. Eight of her novels have been adapted for the screen, either as films or television mini-series. She was the younger sister of actress Joan Collins.

Early life

Collins was born in 1937 in Hampstead, London, the younger daughter of Elsa (Bessant) and Joseph William Collins (died 1988), a theatrical agent whose clients later included Shirley Bassey, the Beatles and Tom Jones. Collins' South African-born father was Jewish and her British mother was Anglican. A middle child, Collins had an elder sister, actress Joan Collins (born 1933) and a younger brother, Bill (born 1946).

Collins attended Francis Holland School, an independent day school for girls in London. She was expelled from the school at age 15; after which she threw her school uniform into the Thames. During this period she reportedly had a brief affair with Marlon Brando, who was 29 at the time.

For a brief period Jackie also was a stage singer and appeared alongside a young Des O'Connor when they both featured in the billing for Lonnie Donegan on his UK tour about 1958.

Like her sister, Collins began appearing in acting roles in a series of British B movies in the 1950s. She also made appearances in the 1960s ITC television series Danger Man and The Saint before giving up an acting career. Later, she played herself in a few television series, including Minder in 1980.

Writing career

1960s

Collins' first novel, The World Is Full of Married Men, was published in 1968. Romantic novelist Barbara Cartland called it "nasty, filthy and disgusting". It was banned in Australia and South Africa, but the scandal bolstered sales in the US and the UK. Collins' second novel, The Stud, was published in 1969 and followed the sexually charged affairs of married Fontaine Khaled, who owns a fashionable London nightclub. It also made the bestseller lists.

1970s

Collins' third novel, Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick (first published under the title The Hollywood Zoo in the UK and then retitled Sinners worldwide in 1984) was published in 1971 and again made the bestseller lists. This was Collins' first novel to be set in the United States.

Lovehead followed in 1974 (retitled as The Love Killers in 1989). This novel was Collins' first foray into the world of organized crime, a genre that would later prove to be extremely successful for her.

Following this, Collins published The World Is Full of Divorced Women (unrelated to her first novel) in 1975, and then her longest novel, Lovers & Gamblers, in 1977 which told the story of rock/soul superstar Al King.

In the late 1970s, Collins made a foray into writing for the screen. She co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of her novel The Stud (1978), which starred her older sister Joan as the gold-digging adulteress Fontaine Khaled. Following this, Collins wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her first novel The World Is Full Of Married Men (1979). She also released her seventh novel, The Bitch, a sequel to The Stud, which was also made into a successful film, with Joan Collins reprising the role. The film version of The Bitch was written and directed by Gerry O'Hara. Around the same time, Collins wrote an original screenplay (not based on any of her novels) for the film Yesterday's Hero (both 1979).

1980s

In the 1980s, Collins and her family moved to Los Angeles on a full-time basis. Her next novel was Chances, published in 1981. Collins described it as her first "Harold Robbins-type" novel, and it introduced her most best known character, Lucky Santangelo, the "dangerously beautiful" daughter of a one-time gangster Gino Santangelo.

While living in the hills above Sunset Boulevard, Collins collected the knowledge and experience to write her most commercially successful novel, Hollywood Wives, which was published in 1983 and hit The New York Times bestseller list at number one. Marketed as a "scandalous exposé", the novel has sold over 15 million copies and placed Collins in a powerful position making her a celebrity of near equal status to sister Joan, whose own career had taken an upwards direction with her role in the television drama Dynasty. In 1985, Hollywood Wives was made into a television miniseries, produced by Aaron Spelling and starring Candice Bergen, Stefanie Powers, Angie Dickinson, Anthony Hopkins, Suzanne Somers and Rod Steiger. Although credited as "Creative Consultant", Collins later stated that she was never consulted during production and that she did not agree with some of the casting choices.

She then went on to write the sequel to Chances entitled Lucky (published in 1985), followed by Hollywood Husbands (1986), and Rock Star (1988).

1990s

In 1990, Collins published her third Lucky Santangelo novel, Lady Boss. Also in 1990, she wrote and co-produced the television mini-series Lucky Chances, which combined her first two Lucky Santangelo novels and starred Nicollette Sheridan (in the lead role) and Sandra Bullock.

In 1992, Collins was widowed when her husband of 26 years, Oscar Lerman, died of cancer. Around this time, she also wrote and produced another mini-series based on her third Lucky Santangelo novel Lady Boss (with Kim Delaney now playing the lead role). Collins run of bestsellers continued with American Star (1993), Hollywood Kids (1994) and the fourth Santangelo novel, Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge (1996). In 1998, she made a foray into talk-show television with the series Jackie Collins' Hollywood, but this was unsuccessful. A new novel was published (Thrill, 1998), and she wrote a four-part series of mini-novels to be released in a newspaper every six weeks called L.A. Connections, introducing a new heroine in the form of investigative journalist Madison Castelli. The fifth Lucky Santangelo novel, Dangerous Kiss, was published in 1999.

2000s

The 2000s turned out to be Collins' busiest time and she published eight bestsellers, more than any other decade in her career. In 2000, Collins brought back the character of Madison Castelli in a new novel, Lethal Seduction. In 2001 she published Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, which was later turned into a television movie in 2003 starring Farrah Fawcett, Melissa Gilbert and Robin Givens (Collins was credited as Executive Producer).

A new Madison Castelli novel, Deadly Embrace, was published in 2002, and Hollywood Divorces was published in 2003. In 2004, Collins hosted a series of television specials, Jackie Collins Presents, for E! Entertainment Television. In 2006, after being signed to the publisher Simon & Schuster for twenty years, Collins signed with St. Martin's Press as her North American publisher, although she remained with Simon & Schuster internationally.

Collins continued with Lovers & Players (2006) and the sixth Lucky Santangelo novel, Drop Dead Beautiful (2007). Married Lovers (2008) concerns the affairs of a female personal trainer named Cameron Paradise. This was followed by Poor Little Bitch Girl (2009), which stemmed from an idea Collins had worked on for a television series about heiresses that was ultimately never made. It features Bobby Santangelo Stanislopoulos (son of Lucky Santangelo and Dimitri Stanislopoulos) as a major character, and has cameo appearances by Lucky Santangelo, although Lucky does not feature as a major character in this novel.

2010s

Paris Connections (2010), a direct-to-DVD movie adapted from Collins' L.A. Connections series of mini-novels was made by Amber Entertainment in association with the UK supermarket chain Tesco. The movie stars Charles Dance, Trudie Styler, and Nicole Steinwedell as Madison Castelli. Collins served as co-producer, and three more Connections movies with the Madison Castelli character are planned. Although Collins had stated on her official website that there would probably be no more Lucky Santangelo novels after Drop Dead Beautiful (2011), she published the seventh book in the series, Goddess of Vengeance. Collins's 29th novel, titled The Power Trip, was published in September 2012. Confessions of a Wild Child, was published in September 2013. It is prequel to her popular Santangelo series and chronicles the teenage years of Lucky and her brother Dario. Collins cookbook The Lucky Santangelo Cookbook (2014) is named after Lucky Santangelo, the protagonist of seven Collins novels, who is often portrayed preparing elaborate gastronomic creations for her intimates (and who watched her father throw a plate of food at her mother as a child). Jackie Collins final novel was The Santangelos (2015), a conclusion to her Santangelo series of novels which she had begun with Chances in 1981.

Personal life

Collins held dual citizenship: British (by birth) and U.S. (by naturalization, from 6 May 1960).

Collins married her first husband, Wallace Austin, in 1960 and divorced in 1964. They had one child, Tracy, born in 1961.

In 1965, Collins married for the second time to art gallery and nightclub (Ad-Lib, Tramp) owner, Oscar Lerman. The wedding took place in the home of her sister Joan and Anthony Newley, who were married at the time. Collins and Lerman had two daughters, Tiffany (born 1967) and Rory (born 1969). Lerman also formally adopted Collins' daughter, Tracy, from her previous marriage. Lerman died in 1992 from prostate cancer.

In 1994, Collins became engaged to Los Angeles business executive Frank Calcagnini, who died in 1998 from a brain tumour.

In The Sunday Times Rich List 2011, Collins was listed as the UK's fifth richest author with an estimated personal fortune of £60 million.

Collins was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to fiction and charity.

Death

Collins died on 19 September 2015 of breast cancer, two weeks before her 78th birthday. She had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer more than six years before her death but kept her illness almost entirely to herself. She reportedly only informed her sister two weeks before she died. and flew from Los Angeles to London to appear on the ITV chat show Loose Women only 9 days before her death.

Bibliography

• The World Is Full of Married Men (1968)
• The Stud (1969)
• Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick (later Sinners) (1971)
• Lovehead (later The Love Killers) (1974)
• The World Is Full of Divorced Women (1975)
• Lovers and Gamblers (1977)
• The Bitch (1979)
• Rock Star (1988)
• American Star (1993)
• Thrill! (1998)
• Lovers & Players (2006)
• Married Lovers (2008)
• Poor Little Bitch Girl (2009)—Although one of the novel's main characters originates from the Lucky Santangelo novels, and the core character of the series, Lucky, makes a brief appearance, Poor Little Bitch Girl is not considered part of the series.
• The Power Trip (2012)

Hollywood series

• Hollywood Wives (1983)
• Hollywood Husbands (1986)
• Hollywood Kids (1994)
• Hollywood Wives: The New Generation (2001)
• Hollywood Divorces (2003)

Santangelo novels

Main article: Santangelo novels

• Chances (1981)
• Lucky (1985)
• Lady Boss (1990)
• Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge (1996)
• Dangerous Kiss (1999)
• Drop Dead Beautiful (2007)
• Goddess of Vengeance (2011)
• Confessions of a Wild Child (2013)
• The Santangelos (2015)

Madison Castelli series

• L. A. Connections (serialised novel):
  • Power (1998)
  • Obsession (1998)
  • Murder (1998)
  • Revenge (1998)
• Lethal Seduction (2000)
• Deadly Embrace (2002)

Other

• The Lucky Santangelo Cookbook (2014)